Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

I have these on both my 6v R69US and my 12v R27:
http://www.culayer.com/Coffee_Can.htm
They are really bright.

Marshall,
IMHO 12v is the way to go, I've tried some of the LEDs and not been impressed, (although not the ones recommended by Allan), and once done 12v is much more convenient, but personally most of the conversions I've seen or tried have had drawbacks too, and seemed to leave in place some or other of the problematic areas of the old system.
I've been running a B.T-H. unit on my 1961 R69S outfit (just back on the road, see my thread) and been very impressed, but to be fair it should be good at the price, however I have recently found one additional advantage to it.
As the unit is physically shorter than the original dynamo it is possible to fit the Harmonic Balancer inside the original flat front cover on the early 50S/69S, which therefore avoids the dilemma of changing the cover for the bulged one, and modifying the fork to suit, or running without it, which I won't do again, having just had a VERY expensive crankshaft failure.
Just my own personal opinion and experience.
Enjoy your bike, cheers
Niall

... As the unit is physically shorter than the original dynamo it is possible to fit the Harmonic Balancer inside the original flat front cover on the early 50S/69S, which therefore avoids the dilemma of changing the cover for the bulged one, and modifying the fork to suit, or running without it, which I won't do again, having just had a VERY expensive crankshaft failure....
Where did the crank fail, under what conditions did it fail, what kind of use had it been given, and how long was it without the damper?
BTW, the assembly is not a balancer, as the crank rod sets and pistons are perfectly balanced. It is a harmonic damper, dampening the flexing of the crankshaft by storing runout caused by flexing, and releasing it 180 degrees later. The runout or vibration is stored in the rubber ring.

Allan,

Where did the crank fail, under what conditions did it fail, what kind of use had it been given, and how long was it without the damper?


I posted all this information on my thread http://vintagebmw.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=429, and you offered your opinion that running an early R69S engine, as built without the harmonic damper (yes you're quite right, its a damper, a device to absorb energy, not a counter-reactive mass), for probably over 120,000 miles pulling a heavy sidecar on low gearing, was the likely cause of the failure. Having had my ignorance of this , in the UK, little known device corrected, I agreed with your opinion to the extent that my rebuilt engine now has a harmonic damper fitted, I merely wanted to mention that the B.T-H unit made the retro-fitting of the damper an easy job, (though not cheap..), although MarshallF's bike if it has a 1969 chassis should have suitable forks already.
BTW I can't help feeling that in earlier years BMW would have tackled the problem in a more fundamental way and re-engineered the crankshaft assembly rather than fitting this rather flimsy add-on.
I know all crankshafts exhibit angular deflection in use but when the harmonic of the assembly occurs in the normal operation of it there must be ways of engineering it out, better than sticking a bit of rubber in to soak it up, thats the sort of design philosphy that gave birth to the Knicker-Elastic Norton . Or perhaps they did just that, and called it the /5.

I know this is an old thread but I picked up the led light assembly the other day. Quick, & easy to install and really lights up. I know its not original but for everyday riding it is great. So much brighter than the original that I feel safer in traffic during the day time.
When I take the 67 60/2 to a show, I will change it back but for now I like.

Now if I could find some for the enduro bags....lol

I would like to improve (increase) the brightness of the brake and signal lights for my R69S (titled as a 1961, but frame number and design appear to be 1969 and engine from 1960 - go figure). And, a really bright headlamp would be great, too. From my limited knowledge it seems as though this can be done by either converting to a 12V system or using LEDs. Has anyone had experience with using LEDS in a 6V system? Converting to them entirely or adding them to (around) the existing incandesent bulb?

Can these 2 options (if they're both options) be compared: 6V to 12V conversion vs. LEDs?

I couldn't find an existing topic or thread in the Vintage forum on this. Is that because it's a REALLY stupid idea?

Are there other suggestions for increasing the brightness of the lights on an old bike?

Thanks,
Marshall
-- have had this bike for a month -- 35 yrs after I sold my only other bike, a 1966 R50. Feels good!
(sent in my membership application and anxiously check the mail everyday for a reply)